Hiding In The Hollow
by born-on-sunday
Summary: Everyone thinks Stars Hollow is a sleepy little town. Time to spruce things up a bit. When tragedy strikes, everyone is a suspect. COMPLETE
1. You've Got A Way With Words

"Lorelai, if you're not going to buy the apples, then please don't squeeze them." Taylor replied annoyed. "Other people won't buy them if you do that."

Lorelai sighed "But I hate soft apples." She moaned. "If I don't squeeze them, then I can't tell if I want to buy them."

"You leave dents, Lorelai." Taylor scoffed.

"Dents?" Lorelai asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, dents."

"Fine." Lorelai replied. "I wont _dent _the apples anymore."

Lorelai walked over to loafs of bread. She placed her hand on one and gently squeezed it to see if it was fresh.

"What are you doing?" Taylor whaled.

Lorelai turned around quickly. "Nothing!"

"You're smashing the bread!"

"No... Noo.." Lorelai replied quickly. "I was just checking to see if the bread was fresh."

"Of course it's fresh." Taylor mocked. "See the sign up above it?"

Lorelai looked up to see a sign printed in large black letters. "FRESH BREAD"

"Okay." Lorelai smiled. "I'll take the sign's word." she randomly grabbed a loaf of bread and headed to the check out lane.

Lorelai walked out of the market.

"Real quick stop?" Rory asked holding the movies and burgers.

"Well, it would have been." Lorelai replied aggravated. "Taylor is so picky about his groceries."

"Did you squeeze the apples?"

"No." Lorelai lied.

"The bread?" Rory asked again.

Lorelai sighed. "What kind of market owner gets upset with you for testing the merchandise? We should quit shopping there."

"Then where will get our groceries?" Rory played along.

"We'll order them off ebay." Lorelai replied, unable to come up with a serious answer.

(Luke's Diner)

"This is it, Jess." Luke grouched. "Your last chance."

Jess rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Luke pulled Jess into the back room. "Do you know how many other people would have given up on you by now?" he asked. "I've taken a lot of shit for you."

"I never asked you to." Jess shot back.

"Either you get your act together, or I'm putting you out." Luke replied stomping back into the diner.

Jess came out and saw Rory and Lorelai walking down the street. He was enjoying the view until Dean showed up in the picture. Quickly he looked away, grabbed a broom and started sweeping the floor.

Luke looked over. "That's a nice start." he teased.

(The street)

"Hey, ladies." Dean said as he walked up to them. "Movie night?" he asked.

"Yep." Rory replied. "A good one too. We rented all three scream movies."

"Horror flicks, huh?" Dean teased. "Try not to get too scared."

"Are you kidding?" Lorelai replied. "None of the scream movies are scarey. They're perfect to make fun of however."

"So, your watching three scarey movies so you can laugh?" Dean asked confused. "Why not just watch three comedy movies?"

"We're unconventional." Rory replied seriously.

"Yeah." Dean nodded. "I've learned that. I'll call you later." he leaned and kissed Rory on the cheek. "Bye, Lorelai."

"Bye, Dean." Lorelai replied.

(Gilmore House)

Lorelai and Rory sat on the couch surrounded by junk food and soda. Lorelai was still stuffing popcorn into her mouth.

"You know." Lorelai began. "Horror movies have lost all their effect. We need something new, something fresh."

"Like what?" Rory asked taking a swig of soda.

"Just something different than some guy killing people. There needs to be more to a movie. Puzzles to figure out. Games to play. And a major plot twist in the end, leaving you speechless."

Rory thought for a moment. Her mother was actually making a good point. Most movies were the same old thing, just different faces. There wasn't really anything scarey about some guy killing people. Adding psychological puzzles and twists, however, would definitely make it more interesting.

(The diner)

"Luke, may I talk to you for a minute please." Taylor asked.

"What is it Taylor?" Luke replied not looking up from his order book.

"I think Jess has been stealing from me." Taylor began. Now Luke looked up. "I'm not really mad. Just disappointed you know? He doesn't have to steal. You make sure he gets what he needs."

"Why do you think Jess has been stealing from you Taylor?"

"I've noticed a few things are missing from the store. Usually a cigar or two. Sometimes a magazine."

"How does that lead to Jess?" Luke asked offended.

"Well..." Taylor's eyes widened. "Who else in town would steal? I'd never been stolen from in my life until he moved here."

"Get out." Luke replied solemnly.

"Luke, I'm sure he's just a good kid with bad problems..."

"Get out." Luke repeated this time more forcefully.

Taylor exhaled deeply. "Everyone's really bitting their tongues around you Luke. Even I've held back a lot. But I'll not stand for theft in my store. That boy is trouble. He's heading down a path that you can't save him from." Taylor turned quickly and slammed the door on his way out, catching everyone's attention.

"Luke?" Miss Patty asked, expecting an explanation.

"What?" Luke asked aggressively.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing. Taylor's just a jerk." he replied.

"Oh, sweetie, he means well." Miss Patty defended.

"He's always coming over here and starting something." Luke huffed as he became more and angry.

"He just wants what's best for the town."

"Yeah, well I think the town would be a lot better if Taylor wasn't in it." Luke snapped.

Miss Patty gasped and placed her hand on her heart. Never, had she heard such cruel words come from Luke's mouth. Luke realized he had said too much. He turned and walked up the stairs to his apartment. He couldn't take 20 sets of eyes staring at him. Everyone in the diner had started to whisper about the current event.


	2. On This Day

"Hey, Rory." Jess said as she walked into the diner. "What can I get for you?"

"You're actually working?" Rory asked teasingly.

"I figured I'd give it a shot." Jess smiled. "Coffee?"

"Yes, please." Rory answered. Jess poured her a fresh cup. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He pulled out his order book. "What would you like to eat?" he stood waiting for her answer.

Wow. Rory thought to herself. Jess was being extremely nice. "French toast." Rory stated certainly.

"Coming right up." Jess wrote down the order and took off behind the counter.

Lorelai walked in and sat down at the table. She had a look on her face that meant one of two things, she had seen something very disturbing, or she had done something very disturbing. Rory took the bait.

"What's up?" Rory asked.

Lorelai cleared her throat. "I walked by Taylor's this morning."

"And?"

"He has a sign in the window, that says 'DO NOT SQUEEZE GROCERIES'." Lorelai's mouth stiffened. She found the situation to be very unfunny.

Rory smirked. "A whole sign, just for you?"

"He's such a jerk." Lorelai shot back.

"Mom..." Rory replied. "It's Taylor."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "He goes too far."

"Calm down." Rory said pushing over her coffee.

Lorelai's bad mood broke. She sighed. "Thanks..." She smiled and took a sip of the coffee. "It's just a sign right?"

"Right." Rory confirmed.

"French toast." Jess said as he placed the plate in front of Rory. "And what would you like?" he asked focusing on Lorelai.

"A slap in the face, cause this is happening." Lorelai remarked.

"I'll start by pouring your own cup of coffee..." Jess ignored her.

Lorelai looked over at Rory who had the same look of surprise on her face. "Um... Pancakes sounds good."

"Pancakes it is." Jess took off behind the counter once more.

"What is up with that?" Lorelai asked nodding over towards Jess.

"No idea." Rory replied. "He's been like that all morning."

"That's... Wow." Lorelai gaped. "I wonder how long it will last?"

Rory shrugged. "People wouldn't hate him so much, if he'd stay this way."

Lorelai snickered. "1 week tops."

"I don't know." Rory replied. "Maybe he's finally ready to grow up."

Lorelai gave a Rory an awkward look. This girl truly believed in the good of everyone. She didn't get that from Lorelai, that's for sure. Lorelai looked around and noticed Luke was missing from the diner.

"Hmm.. That's odd." Lorelai noted. "Luke's missing."

Rory looked around and noticed the same. "That is odd."

Jess came back over and handed Lorelai her pancakes. "There you go."

"Hey, where's Luke?" Lorelai asked curiously.

"Don't know." Jess answered. "Said he had some business to take care of."

Lorelai frowned. "Luke has other business besides the diner?"

"I have no idea." Jess replied. "He just said he had some business. Asked if I could run the diner for a while."

"You're a doing a good job." Rory spoke up.

Jess looked over and smiled. "Thanks."

"Yeah, your attitude improvement rocks." Lorelai added.

Jess wasn't sure about this comment. He never fully understood Lorelai. "Well, I got some stuff taken care of." Jess stated. "Someone was causing me a lot of problems, so I finally put an end to it. The wrong people can really bring you down."

"That's true." Lorelai remarked, beginning to let down her guard. "Maybe, you'll get your fresh start after all."

"I hope so." Jess smiled. "Enjoy your breakfast ladies."

(Later that day)

Rory was sitting under a tree reading a book and waiting on Dean to finish basketball practice. She noticed a big commotion was taking place over by Taylor's townhouse. At first she figured it was some type of town function, since Taylor was always the one in charge of them, but she became alarmed when she saw a police car and ambulance pull up. She quickly shut her book and placed it in her bag. She briskly walked over to the crowd of people.

Random rabbling was coming from all directions. Miss Patty came storming out of the crowd of people.

"Miss Patty." Rory called, trying to stop her.

She was pale, and had been crying. Rory immediately became worried. "Rory, sweetie, you should go home." Miss Patty replied gently.

"What happened?" Rory asked.

"Go home dear. Find your mother." Miss Patty tore herself from Rory's side and ran straight into her house, slamming the door behind her.

Rory was confused, she had never saw Miss Patty with hold information. She turned back to the crowd of people, Kirk was standing with his hand on his head.

"Kirk!" Rory called.

He looked up to see Rory. She came walking towards him. He walked to her first and stopped her from entering the crowd.

"What's going on?" Rory asked.

"You don't need to be here, Rory." Kirk replied seriously.

Rory became frustrated. "Why won't somebody tell me what this is all about?"

"Come on, I'll walk you home." Kirk was acting strange. Well, strange for Kirk. He was actually acting normal. He wasn't being his usual dumb self. Rory could tell the intensity of the situation was major.

"Kirk, I want to know." Rory demanded.

Dean suddenly came up behind Rory. "Hey... What's going on?" he dazed off into the crowd.

"I don't know." Rory threw up her hands. "No one is explaining anything."

"Stay here, I'll find out." Kirk put up his hand, but quickly lowered it when Dean stared him in the eye. He walked over and pushed his way through the crowd.

Dean spoke with one of the townspeople. Rory watched carefully, hoping she could decipher something. Dean's face looked shocked and scared. This only made Rory more distressed. Finally Dean came slowly walking back. He came up beside Rory and took her by the arm.

"Let's head to your house." Dean spoke. "We shouldn't be here."

"What is it?" Rory asked, this time with fear overwhelming her body.

Dean sighed heavily. "Someone murdered Taylor."

Rory gasped.


	3. Look Up Darling

Rory's lost her breath and tears started to whelm in her eyes.

"Rory.." Dean lightly shook her. "Rory..."

"I want to go home." she mumbled.

"We are." Dean confirmed. He guided her over to his truck. They pulled into the drive way. Rory had being crying softly the whole way home. Dean searched for the right words to say, but came up with nothing. He opened the door for Rory and helped her out. She was shaky, and seemed a bit detached from reality. Dean was starting to become seriously worried about her. Rory handed Dean the key to unlock the door, they walked inside and Dean guided Rory over to the couch. "Sit here. I'll bring you some water." Dean hurried to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. He rushed it back to Rory's side. "Here."

Rory took a large gulp of water. She calmed herself down. "Thank you." she said wiping away at the last of her tears.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked.

"I just can't believe..." Rory said staring off into the air. "Who... Who would do something like that?"

Dean was just as puzzled as Rory. "I don't know." he replied. "I wish I did. It has to be someone we know."

Rory's heart thumped when she heard this. "Dean..."

"Well, I mean it's a small town." he defended. "There's only so many people who could have done it."

"No one in Stars Hollow would commit a murder." Rory replied.

Dean looked away and then focused back on Rory. "Apparently, someone would."

Lorelai came walking into the house. "Hey..." Rory and Dean both jumped, followed by Rory letting out a small scream. "Okay..." Lorelai replied a little unsure. "Did I walk in on something?" she teased.

"Mom." Rory's eyes began to water again. She raised from the couch and walked over to her mother.

Lorelai was clueless as to what was going on. She immediately dropped the joking attitude and kicked into mother mode. "Rory, what's wrong?" Lorelai reached out to her daughter and pulled her close.

Rory sniffled. "Someone killed Taylor." she whined.

"What?" Lorelai held Rory back and looked at her.

Dean came over to the girls. "Taylor..." he sputtered. "He was murdered."

Lorelai's face became pale. "There was a murder?" Dean shook his head. "In Stars Hollow? When?" Lorelai's breathing became heavy.

"A couple of hours ago, maybe? I'm not sure on the time frame." Dean replied.

Lorelai felt dizzy. "I need to sit down."

Lorelai and Rory took a seat on the couch. Dean remained standing by the window. Silence fell over the house. It was quiet. The kind of quiet that you've always dreaded. The dead quiet. You could hear wind chimes tinkling on the porch, and a dog barking a couple of houses over. If you breathed in heavy enough, you could smell the death in the air. Rory finally broke the silence.

"Where were you?" She asked, directing her question at Lorelai.

"I've been at the inn." Lorelai replied, you know that.

"How did you not see all the people?" Rory asked.

"What people, sweetie?" Lorelai asked, not following Rory's train of thought.

"All the people in front of Taylor's house. You had to see them, you passed right by."

"Oh, no.." Lorelai replied. "I came in to town from the north side."

"You never do that." Rory answered.

" Today I had to go see Mrs. Gingers. She's wanting to have a dinner at the inn next weekend. She's doesn't move around to well in her old age, so she asked me to come to her house."

"Oh." Rory whispered.

Dean was tired of just standing around. He wanted to be there for Rory, but Lorelai was here now. He wanted answers. He wanted to find out exactly what had happened.

"I'm going to go into town." Dean grabbed his keys from the table.

"Dean..." Rory began.

"It's okay." he stopped her. "I'm going to find out what's going on."

"I'm coming too." Lorelai replied standing.

"Then I guess we'e all going." Rory added.

(Taylor's House)

"This is unbelievable." The cop replied. "Cut his head completely off his body."

"Grossest thing I've ever seen." Another cop stated. "The bastard that did this must have some serious psychological problems."

"Hey, Mike, why don't you tell those people to clear out alright?"

Mike shook his head. He walked outside. Immediately it feel silent.

"You all should go on back to your houses. There's nothing more to see here."

"Who did this?" A voice yelled.

Mike cleared his throat. "We don't know, yet. But we'll find out."

"How can we feel safe with some crazy murderer lose in our town?"

"Yeah!"

"People, please." Mike hushed. "Who ever did this will be captured and punished we promise. For now, return to your houses."

Mumbling went on throughout the crowd as they scattered this way and that. By the time Lorelai Dean, and Rory reached the crime scene, there was no one. The three got out of the truck and headed up towards Taylor's house. An officer stopped them.

"Hey.. You can't go in there." the officer replied.

"We want to know what's going on." Dean shot back.

"Kid, this is a murder scene you can't just walk in."

Lorelai stepped in. "Excuse me.. Hi, I'm Lorelai Gilmore. I live here in town. I'm a little unsure about what's happened here. Can you please fill me in?"

"Ma'am, I'm not allowed to give out information."

"I'm not asking for much." Lorelai replied.

"There's been a murder." the officer finally confessed. "Mr. Doose."

"We know that." Dean replied. "Who did it? How did it happen? When?" he pushed on.

"Sorry, even if I had that information, I couldn't expose it to you. You folks need to just get on back to your house. We're handling everything."

(Luke's diner)

"Jess?" Luke called upstairs. "Jess?"

"What?" Jess's voice shot down the stairs.

"Come down here."

The sound of boots came closer and closer. "What?"

"What is that?" Luke pointed to Taylor's house.

"Taylor's house." Jess replied.

"Why are there police at Taylor's house?" Luke asked in a heavy tone.

"I don't know." he folded his arms.

Luke's voice raised. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. I've been here all day filling in for you!" Jess shot back.

Luke rubbed his face and sighed. "Jess..."

"I didn't do anything." Jess repeated slowly. He stared at Luke for moment. "Why bother?" he turned and took back up the stairs.

(The street)

"I'm going to head home." Dean spoke. "My family is probably worried."

"Good idea." Lorelai replied. "I'll take over from here." she placed her arm around Rory. They walked into Luke's, it was nearly empty.

"Lorelai." Luke said as soon as she walked in. "What's going on?"

Surprisingly, it wasn't as hard to say as Lorelai thought it would be. "Taylor's dead."

Luke was taken aback "What?"

"Someone killed him." She and Rory sat down at a table.

"Someone killed Taylor?" Luke clarified coming over closer to them. "Who? When?"

"No one knows." Lorelai replied. "The police aren't saying anything."

"Wow." Luke whispered.

"Yeah." Lorelai agreed.

"I mean, you think you live in a safe town."

"Yeah." Lorelai shook her head.

"Taylor and I had our fights you know? But death... he didn't deserve that." Luke sat down beside them.

"No one does." Rory added.

Luke focused on Rory for a moment. "This hit you kind of hard." he noted.

"It's just scarey." She replied. "Someone did that. And they're still here."

"Well, you don't know that for sure." Lorelai remarked. "Perhaps they left town. Perhaps they're hundreds of miles away already." She tried to keep the worst of thoughts out of Rory's mind.

"Or maybe they're right here in town..."

"Luke." Lorelai scolded accompanied with an irate look.

"No sense in sugar coating this, Lorelai." he replied. "We're all in danger."


	4. Another Chance

"We should get home before it gets dark." Lorelai said looking outside the diner window.

Rory and Lorelai grabbed their belongings and headed out the door.

"You two be careful." Luke called after them.

The walk home seemed a lot longer than usual. The sun was setting, and the evening glow had filled the air. Rory took notice in things that now seemed creepy. A cant suddenly dashed across the side walk making both girls jump.

"This is silly." Lorelai said calming herself down.

"Let's just get home." Rory replied.

Finally after what seemed like hours, the Gilmore girls reached their house. They quickly walked in, shut, and locked the door behind them.

"Okay…" Lorelai said taking off her jacket. "That wasn't so bad."

"Compared to what?" Rory asked.

"Compared to…. Watching a movie staring Paris Hilton?" Lorelai teased.

Rory giggled. "Point proven, and accepted."

(Later that evening)

"Hey, Rory do you want pizza?" Lorelai asked peeking through Rory's bedroom door.

"Sure." Rory replied, not looking up from her homework.

Lorelai walked back into the kitchen and pulled the pizza box out of the fridge. As she was placing the cold pieces on plates, she caught a glimpse of someone standing at the back door. She screeched and dropped the pizza onto the floor. Rory came running in.

"Oh my god, Luke!" Lorelai yelled. She walked over and opened the back door. "Why the hell would you do that?" she asked frantically.

"Do what?" Luke asked.

"Stand by my door like that." She continued to scold.

"I was about to knock." Luke grumbled. "I just wanted to make sure you two were okay."

"Well, you could have called." Lorelai defended.

"Sorry." Luke turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Rory asked.

"Home." Luke answered shortly.

"No. Stay." Lorelai added. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I'm just a little freaked out about the whole Taylor thing."

"I understand." Luke said changing his mind about leaving.

"You want some pizza?" Lorelai asked as she scooped it up off the floor.

"No thank." Luke replied.

A couple more hours passed and Luke was finding himself really enjoying Lorelai's company. Which he had always enjoyed it, but this time he was enjoying it n a different way.

"So, Rory was like 5 years old, right." Lorelai laughed. "And she had just watched an episode of I Love Lucy."

"Oh, god." Rory replied rolling her eyes. "Not this story again."

"And she had arranged her room too look like the Tropicana. She had all her stuffed animals sitting as the band members and she was pretending to be Ricky. She had this huge drum that Miss Patty had given her and she was making the most god awful noises ever."

"I was trying to sing in Spanish." Rory clarified.

"She actually did a remarkable impression." Lorelai laughed.

Luke grinned. He liked hearing the stories of when Rory was a kid. It made him feel like he was really getting to know the girls better. Suddenly he looked at his watch.

"Oh geeze" he said leaning forward. "I've got to get going."

"Aw, come on, one more embarrassing story." Lorelai made a sad face.

"I'd love to, but I need to take care of some things back at the diner. It's getting late anyways."

"Well, alright." Lorelai smiled. "Promise you'll randomly stop back by again though."

Luke returned a smile. "I promise."

Lorelai locked the door after Luke and turned around facing Rory.

"Well, who knew Luke was such a company keeper." Rory replied.

"Yeah." Lorelai agreed. "It was nice having him over." She quickly changed the subject "So, it's late. I think I'll head on up to bed."

Rory's eyes widened. She had noticed how far away their rooms were away from each other.

"Why are our rooms so far apart?" Rory abruptly asked, catching Lorelai way off guard.

"Huh?"

"Our rooms." She repeated. "Yours is upstairs mine is down."

"Yes.." Lorelai agreed.

"So, if someone was to break in, I'd never be able to get to you. You'd probably not even hear me call for help. And of course I'd be the first target, cause I'm on the bottom floor" Rory finally stopped her ranting.

"Wanna sleep with me tonight?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes, please." Rory smiled.


	5. Never Say I Didn't

Lorelai raised up from her bed. It was 6 am and someone was pounding on the front door. She slowly got out from under the covers and headed downstairs.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." she called as she got closer to the door. "This better be important." she grumbled.

Lorelai opened the door to reveal a young caramel colored woman in a business suit.

"Ms. Gilmore?" The woman asked.

"Yeah." Lorelai replied a bit confused and still half a sleep.

"I'm Detective Cook." the lady replied.

"Can I help you?"

"I hope so." Cook replied. "May I come in?"

Lorelai opened the door wider, and allowed the young woman to come in. "Does this have anything to do with Taylor?" Lorelai asked guiding Cook into the kitchen so she could pour some coffee.

"News travels quickly in this small town." Cook replied taking a cup of coffee. "Something as big as a murder must be earthshaking."

"Yes." Lorelai replied. "It is. My daughter didn't even sleep in her own room last night."

"You have a daughter?" Cook asked interestingly.

"Mm hm. She's 16. Do you have any children?"

"No." The woman replied sadly. "I'm afraid my job doesn't allow for much of a personal life. My husband and I are barely spending time together as it is. But that's not why I'm here." she ended in a laugh. "May I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure." Lorelai replied.

Cook pulled out her pen and pad. "When was the last time you saw Taylor Doose, alive?"

"A couple of mornings ago."

"At the market?"

"Yes." Lorelai confirmed.

"Did you speak with him?"

"Well, he told me not to squeeze the groceries." Lorelai replied. "And the bread." she added.

"Did this make you angry?"

A pause. Whoa, wait a minute, was Lorelai a suspect here! "No..." Lorelai shot back almost in a laugh. "It's groceries... it's Taylor... everyone does things just to make him mad." Oh... That was the wrong thing to say.

Cook raised one of her eyebrows. "Why would everyone want to make Taylor mad?"

Lorelai became nervous. "Taylor was very demanding of people. He wanted things to be done a certain way. Sometimes it was comical to see how far he would go to get the things he wanted. Every now and then it we'd all tease him while he put to work his crazy ideas. It was all in fun, Detectives Cook, I would never dream of hurting Taylor or murdering him." Lorelai's eyes had gotten as big as quarters.

"I never accused you of murder." Cook replied cooly. "I don't think you killed Mr. Doose." Relief rushed through Lorelai's body. "But I think you know who did." Back came the nervousness.

"I don't." She replied calmly.

"You don't think you do." Cook said sharply. "This is a very small town, Ms. Gilmore, you know almost everyone in it. Chances are, you know exactly who killed Mr. Doose. All we have to do is put the pieces together and find out who that person is."

For the next 30 minutes it was give and take with questions and answers. Lorelai was becoming frustrated with all the hidden meanings she felt were lurking in the detective's questions. Finally, Cook raised from her chair.

"May I speak with your daughter?" Cook asked.

Lorelai's body tightened. "She doesn't know anything." Lorelai replied sternly.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm her mother."

"She tells you everything?"

"Yes."

Cook was impressed with Lorelai's quick answers once it came to the subject of her daughter. She exhaled deeply. "If you change your mind, please let us know. All information is vital." Cook headed towards the door.

Lorelai rose form the chair and followed her. She opened the door and waited for Cook to walk by.

"Thank you for your help." Cook said as she exited the house.

"You're welcome." Lorelai shut the door. "Well, 7 am and I've already had an interview with a cop. What a progressive day." Lorelai climbed the stairs back to her room. Rory was still sleeping peacefully. She crawled back into the bed and fell asleep not waking for a few hours.

(Luke's Diner)

Cook walked into the attractive little diner.

"Have a seat. I'll take your order in just a sec." Luke replied when he spotted the woman.

Cook went ahead and found a seat, but had no intentions of ordering any food. When Luke came over to take her order, she sighed heavily. "Mr. Danes, I'm not here to eat."

Luke looked at her funny. "Do you want something to drink?" he finally asked.

"I'm Detective Cook, from the Hartford Police Department. Is there a place a little more private we can go to?"

"Why?" Luke shot back.

"I need to ask you a few questions."

"I have a diner to run I can't just leave."

"Surely, someone can cover for you for a few minutes? It's very important that I speak with you."

Luke paused. "Alright. Jess!" Luke called. "Watch the diner. I'll be back." Jess nodded his head. "You can come up to my apartment." Luke replied. "And that's not a line."

Cook wasn't impressed with Luke's smoothness. They walked up to the apartment and Luke offered her a seat.

"Okay," Luke began "What's this about?"

"Mr. Danes, you knew Mr. Doose that was murdered yesterday morning, correct?" she asked.

"Yeah. Everyone knows Taylor."

"Did you like Taylor?" she grabbed her pen and pad to write down his answer.

Luke thought for a moment. "Well, there were a few times that he and I didn't exactly see eye to eye. But he was an okay guy."

"Did you ever want to hurt Taylor?" Cook asked.

"Hurt Taylor?" Luke repeated. "No..."

"Did you want Taylor to live here in Stars Hollow?" Cook continued.

"Well... I can't control who lives here..."

"That's not what I asked you."

"Sure, Taylor can live in Stars Hollow." Luke replied in frustration.

"So when you said that the town would be better off without him..."

"Whoa!" Luke jumped up from his seat."I didn't kill Taylor!" he exclaimed pointing to himself.

Cook leaned forward in her chair. "Who said you did?"

"You're asking me questions, like I did.. Am I suspect?" Luke asked.

"Right now Mr. Danes everyone and anyone is a suspect."

Luke rubbed his eyes. "Look, I have no idea what happened to Taylor. If I did I would have already been to the police."

"Mr. Danes, did you say that the town would be a lot better off without Taylor?" Cook persisted.

Luke breathed heavily. "Yes."


	6. Didn't I Warn You ?

(Later at the Diner)

Lorelai and Rory came walking in. Luke noticed them and immediately turned his attention to Lorelai.

"What did you tell her?" Luke asked as he pulled Lorelai aside.

"Tell who?" Lorelai asked.

"The detective. She came here... she asked me a hundred questions, and guess what, they all made me look like I was the one who killed Taylor!"

"I didn't tell her anything!" Lorelai shot back. "How did you even know I spoke with her?"

"She made the comment that everyone in this town has jumped to the conclusion they are being accused of Taylor's murder. She mentioned your name specifically."

Lorelai sighed. "Maybe there's truth in what she's saying Luke. Everyone is jumping to conclusions."

Luke huffed. "I can tell I'm going to be a prime suspect in this, because everyone knows I never liked Taylor."

"Calm down." Lorelai replied. "Rory doesn't even know that Detective Cook was at the house this morning.

"Why are you keeping things from Rory?" Luke asked.

"I'm not. I just don't see a reason to frighten her and load her down with any of this. The kid has enough going on right now as it is."

Luke's eyes focused out the window. "Oh god."

"What?" Lorelai asked turning around. "She's here again."

Clearly Detective Cook was walking towards the diner. Luke's heart began to thump faster, with every step that she took. Luke decided to meet her outside the door this time and stop her from coming inside the diner. He quickly walked outside.

"If you have anymore questions," Luke began. "You're going to have to wait til I close the diner."

"Mr. Danes." Cook interrupted. "I'll kindly ask you to move."

"What?"

"Move. I have nothing more to say to you at the moment."

"Then why are you coming into my diner?" Luke shot back.

"I've been told that a boy named Jess Mariano works here."

"That's my nephew." Luke answered.

"And does he work here?"

Damn, Luke hated the way this woman phrased her questions. "Yes, he works here."

"I need to speak with him, so if you'll excuse me."

"What do you need to speak with him about? Don't tell me he is suspect too now?"

"Mr. Danes, you're one of the most aggravating people I have ever met." Cook replied as she walked by him and straight into the diner.

Luke followed quickly behind here. Lorelai was sitting close to Rory, preparing for the worst to break out.

"Mr. Mariano?" Cook asked gazing at the young dark haired boy.

"Yeah." He replied.

"May I ask you a few questions?"

"Shoot." Jess replied.

"Can we go somewhere a little more private."

"I'm working."

"It won't take long, I promise."

Jess sighed. "Fine. Where do you want to go?"

"I happen to know there's a nice apartment upstairs." Cook suggested.

Luke mumbled something under his breath. Jess held out his arms, signaling for Cook to lead the way.

After a few minutes, Cook and Jess came back down into the diner. Luke was dying to know what had transpired between the two, but he stayed back and waited. Cook left the diner, without speaking a word to anyone

"Well?" Luke asked impatiently.

"Well what?" Jess replied as he grabbed his rag and began to clean the counter.

"What did she ask you? Did she accuse you of killing Taylor?" Luke pushed.

"Geeze would you relax." Jess laughed. "It's just a mandatory questioning. Everyone's going through it. Unless you've got something to hide, I really think you're overacting."

"Why would I have something to hide?" Luke shot back.

"Hey, both of you come down." Lorelai intervened. "This whole thing has everyone acting strange."

"Stay out of this Lorelai." Luke snapped.

Lorelai's mouth gaped.

"Hey, don't be such a jerk." Jess defended.

"Alright here we go, everyone pile up on Luke."

"You're making a scene." Jess said.

"I'm making a scene." A pause. "Fine, you run the diner tonight. I'll leave."


	7. Anyone And Everyone

Luke slammed the door and caused the bell above it to fall to the floor. Everyone paused from their eating for a moment, but then lost interest and began eating again.

"What the hell is his problem?" Jess asked aimlessly.

"I think he feels like everyone's accusing him of Taylor's murder." Lorelai replied.

"No one has said anything." Jess remarked. "He has a guilty conscience over something though."

Lorelai made a strange face. "Jess, this is Luke. Luke isn't a murderer."

Rory came over to where they were standing. "Mom, can we just go home, please."

"Why are you taking up for him, after the way he snapped on you?" Jess asked.

"He's under a lot of stress..." Lorelai shot back.

Jess gave Lorelai a cold stare. "Why would he be under a lot of stress?" he asked cooly.

"Mom..." Rory interrupted again.

Lorelai ignored Rory. "He sticks his neck out for you all the time. He gave you a place to live... and a job. Now you're actually going to stand here and admit it's possible Luke killed Taylor?" Lorelai was becoming upset.

"Hey, anything is possible."

Lorelai's temper rose to its limit. She was about to spit out one of her clever, and this time, hurtful lines, but Rory grabbed her by the arm.

"Mom..." Rory repeated this time with annoyance. "We're leaving." Rory lead Lorelai out the door and onto the street. "What are you thinking?" Rory asked immediately.

"Did you hear him?" Lorelai asked abruptly.

"Yes. Did you hear yourself?"

"That takes a lot of nerve!" Lorelai scoffed. "To accuse your own uncle of... of... murder."

"He didn't accuse Luke of Murder." Rory defended, guiding her mother down the street towards their house.

"In a round about way, that's exactly what he did."

"That's just Jess being Jess."

"Yeah, well looks like that new leaf he turned over, is just as rotten as the other side. I told you his good boy charm wouldn't last." Lorelia's eyes widened and her heart thumped as she thought back to that moment at the diner. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"What?" Rory asked wondering why they had stopped moving.

"At the diner." Lorelai began. "Yesterday morning."

"What about it?"

"Jess said he had gotten stuff taken care of... that someone was giving him problems." Lorelai's mind trailed back to the conversation.

Rory's stood back in awe. "Mom..." she replied insultingly.

"Come on Rory it's not that far fetched. Problem kid from California no one likes him, Taylor gave him the most grief. Think about what he said."

"No.." Rory replied. "No.. There's no way."

"He's acting way too cool about all of this."

"Cause he didn't do anything." Rory defended.

"How do you know that?"

"I don't for sure."

"Ha. Exactly."

This was becoming a regular game of Clue. Everyone was taking random stabs at everyone. It didn't matter if there was any evidence or not. Rory for one was tired of this whole ordeal and was becoming annoyed with the way everyone in town was acting. Yes a murder had been committed, yes the killer was still lurking in the shadows, but accusing everyone and anyone of being the killer wasn't solving anything. Rory sighed.

"I'm going home." She finally replied. "Are you coming with, or are you going to hook up with Scooby and the gang?"

Lorelai turned up her nose at her daughter's comment. They started walking again. Lorelai glanced over at the town gazebo and noticed Kirk was sitting on the steps with head hanging low.

"Maybe he's upset over Taylor." Rory spoke.

"Should we go over and talk to him?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know. What do we say?"

The girls slowly walked over to Kirk. He raised his head and looked at them. Clearly he had been crying. He wiped at his nose and eyes and then cleared his throat.

"Hi." he said through his sniffling.

"Hey, Kirk." Rory smiled. "Are you okay?"

"No." He whimpered. "I'm not."

Lorelai and Rory sat down beside him. Both their hearts went out to the gawky little man.

Lorelai placed her hand on Kirk's arm. "Are you upset over Taylor?" she asked concerned. Kirk nodded. "Aw, it's okay. Everyone is upset."

"Yeah." Rory added. "Things will be okay again soon. Don't worry."

"Things will never get better." Kirk replied.

"Sure, they will." Lorelai said reassuringly. "Give it time."

Kirk stood up aggressively. "Everyone thinks they know everything in this town!" he roared. "They don't!" his tears were falling rapidly now.

Rory and Lorelai both were at a loss for words. Never had they seen Kirk so torn up about something. They each searched for something more comforting to say, but came up with nothing. After a pause, Kirk turned and hurried off.

Lorelai sighed deeply. "I can't take much more of this."


	8. I Can't Leave You Alone

Finally the Gilmore girls made it home. Lorelai had a headache from all the events that day. No matter how much she thought about it, nothing made sense. Except for what Jess had said at the diner, but deep down she really didn't believe Jess could kill someone. She ran a hot bath and decided to try to ease her mind about everything.

While Lorelai was taking her bath, the phone rang.

"Rory!" she called. "Can you answer that?"

Rory walked into the living room and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Rory?"

"Yeah?"

"It's Luke."

"Oh." Rory replied. "Hi."

"Hi." he repeated. "Is your Mom around?"

"She's taking a bath." Rory answered.

"Oh..." Luke sounded sad.

"Is something wrong?"

"I just.." he paused. "I just wanted to tell her I was sorry for the way I talked to her earlier."

"I can have her call you back when she's finished." Rory suggested.

"Sure. That'd be great." Luke replied. "Hey, Rory..." Luke added quickly.

"Yeah?"

"Who do you think killed Taylor?"

"I have no idea." Rory admitted honestly.

"You don't think I did, do you?" Luke asked fearfully.

Rory laughed. "Of course not."

"What about Jess?" Luke added. "Do you think Jess could kill someone?"

"No.." Rory replied. "Do you?"

"No." Luke answered. "Well... I guess I'll talk you later."

"Guess so."

"Bye."

Rory hung up the phone. What a strange conversation. About that time Lorelai came walking out of the bathroom in a bath robe.

"Who was that?" She asked running her hands through her wet hair.

"Luke." Rory answered. "He wanted to say he was sorry for the way he acted today. He wants you to call him back."

"Well there's no reason to call him back. You just told me why he called." Lorelai turned and walked towards the kitchen.

"You should still call him back. Let him say it himself."

Lorelai poured a cup of coffee. "It's not a big deal."

"To him I think it is. He sounded really sad."

"He'll be alright." Lorelai replied. "I'll see him at the diner tomorrow."

Rory bit her tongue. So desperately she wanted to ridicule her mother for the way she was acting. Instead she left the kitchen and walked back into her room. A couple of minutes later Lorelai peeked her head through the doorway.

"I'm going to bed." She spoke softly. "Are you coming up?"

Rory gazed up from her homework. "No." She replied barely above a whisper.

Lorelai paused. "Sure?" she asked again.

"I'm sure." Rory replied in the same tone as she had the first time.

"Okay. Well, good night." Lorelai remarked.

"Night."

Lorelai climbed the stairs and headed to bed.

(The next morning)

Lorelai sleepily walked into the kitchen. She was aiming to make a pot of coffee, but was distracted by something else.

"I can't stand it here any longer." Rory spoke quietly into the phone. "Everyone's acting so weird. Even Mom. It's like we've been thrown into a really bad soap opera. I just need some time away." A pause. "Are you sure?" Rory asked. "Okay. Thanks Grandma."

Was Lorelai dreaming? Did she actually here a conversation between Rory and Emily? Lorelai quickly walked back into the kitchen. Rory came walking out of her room. She immediately spotted her mother.

"Hey." Lorelai greeted. "Want some coffee?"

"No Thanks. I'm late for school." Rory replied as she placed the phone on the charger.

"Who was you talking to?" Lorelai asked casually.

"Grandma." Rory honestly replied.

Lorelai was impressed with Rory's forthcoming. "Oh, did she call?"

"I called her." Rory exhaled deeply. "I asked if I could stay with her and Grandpa for a few days."

This caused Lorelai's heart to ache. She suddenly felt the urge to cry. But she held back. "How come?"

"Just to get away from all of this for a few days." Rory answered. "It's really nerveracking"

"So you're going to leave me here alone?" Lorelai asked offensively. "With a murderer roaming the streets?" she added.

Rory knew that Lorelai wouldn't take kindly to her wanting to leave Stars Hollow for a few days. "You could come with me." she offered.

"Come with you? To live in my parents house?" Lorelai asked. "Are you nuts?"

Rory was hurt by her mother's hurtful comments. "Fine. I won't go." Rory replied. She grabbed her book bag. "I'll see you later."

"Rory wait." Lorelai said stopping her. "Let's not do this." She remarked sympathetically.

"It's fine."

"Sweetie.. I'm sorry if I've been neglecting you."

"I never said that." Rory replied.

"Then what is it?" Lorelai asked. "What have I done?"

Rory's eyes began to tear up. She hated moments like this when her mother put her on the spot. "Nothing... I'm just tired of the way everyone's acting."

"So am I." Lorelai agreed.

"I don't want to hear about Taylor anymore."

"Neither do I."

"I just to want to block it all out of my head." Rory wiped away a couple of tears and calmed herself down.

"I understand that." Lorelai said gently. "But, please, don't leave me Rory. I can handle everything else, but if you left me here alone, I couldn't handle that."

Rory suddenly felt evil and selfish. "I'm not going to leave." Rory answered.


	9. Stay If You Wish

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

"I didn't do anything!" Jess defended as they locked the handcuffs around his wrists.

"You have the right to an attorney, if you can't afford one, one will be provided for you."

"This is crazy! Luke do something!" Jess yelled.

"Detective Cook." Luke began. "Please..."

"I'm sorry Mr. Danes." Cook replied. "We have to follow the law."

The police officers guided Jess down the steps of the diner. Luke followed closely behind.

"I demand to know what evidence you have." Luke stated.

Cook turned around. "Your nephew's shirt was found laying under Taylor's couch. It was covered in blood."

"That's not enough evidence to arrest someone." Luke defended.

"Also, he can't account for where he was during the time of Taylor's murder."

"So that's it?" Luke asked. "Do you know where you were when Taylor Doose died?" Luke shot back.

"Yes." Cook replied. "I was sleeping peacefully, and had no knowledge of this town or it's existence." She left the diner.

Luke immediately picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Lorelai, they arrested Jess." Luke replied frantically.

"What?" Lorelai asked jumping out of her seat.

"They arrested Jess. They said they found a shirt of his with blood and that he couldn't account for where he was when Taylor was murdered."

"Oh my god." Lorelai replied. "I'll be there in a few minutes." Lorelai hung up the phone. "Michelle, take over." Lorelai said quickly as she grabbed her keys.

Lorelai noticed the closed sign on the diner, but payed it no mind. She opened the door and quickly hurried up the stairs to Luke's apartment. She found him sitting there with a beer in his hand.

"Luke." She said softly.

"He's a good kid." Luke replied, clearly upset. "He's done some really stupid things, but he'd never kill anyone."

"You shouldn't be drinking." Lorelai responded, reaching over and taking the beer from Luke's hand.

"Lorelai, I've tried to straighten him out."

"I know you have. And you're doing a great job."

"No I'm not."

"Yes... You are. You're doing all you can."

"Well, that's not enough." Luke replied reaching over for his beer.

Lorelai kept the beer out of Luke's reach. "Ever since this whole thing started no one has bee acting their usual self. But placing the blame on someone isn't just going to end all of this. We have to go to the police station and convince them they have the wrong guy."

"I just want to know who did it." Luke said lightly. "Who out there is that desperate for attention?"

(Al's pancake world)

"I heard they arrested Jess this morning." Babette remarked.

"For the murder of Taylor?" Miss Patty asked.

"Yep."

"Oh my." Miss Patty frowned. "Do you think he really did it?"

Babette shrugged. "Beats the hell out of me."

"I heard that Luke's been acting very strange." Kirk added, butting his way into the conversation.

"Poor Luke." Miss Patty replied. "He's tried so hard to help Jess."

"I never liked Jess from day one." Kirk responded. "Always acting so tough."

"Aw, Kirky don't hate on the boy. We don't know for sure he did anything." Babette defended.

"Well, somebody needs to figure something out." Kirk said loudly. "A great man of our town has been killed, and someone has to pay for it."

"Sweetie, the police are doing the best they can." Miss Patty proclaimed.

"Well, that's just not good enough."

"Do you think you could do any better?" Babette asked.

"Yes... I do." Kirk said proudly. "I could do a lot better. And I'll tell you where I'd start. I'd start by searching Luke's apartment."

Babette and Miss Patty exchanged glances. "Have you talked with the police yet?" Miss Patty asked.

"No." Kirk replied. "Just like everyone else they think dumb old Kirk doesn't know anything."

"Do you know something?" Babette asked, leaning closer.

"Maybe." Kirk said leaning back. "But I'm saving my testimony for the police." He turned and left Al's.

"Poor fella." Babette replied. "He just gets stranger and stranger every day."


	10. Tell Them I Tried

Luke and Lorelai were finally starting to devise a plan on how to deal with the situation at hand. Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door.

"Police." a voice called through the door.

"It's open." Luke replied carelessly.

The door swung open and a few policemen stepped inside the apartment. "Sir, we're from the Hartford Police Department. We have a search warrant." the leading officer explained.

"Go ahead." Luke replied. "Search... You won't find anything."

The officers began searching through the apartment.

"Sir, this is going to take a while." The leading officer said.

"Okay." Luke answered. "I have to get back to the diner anyway."

Lorelai grabbed her purse and headed down stairs with Luke.

"Luke, maybe you shouldn't leave them alone up there."

"What are they going to do Lorelai, steal from me?"

"No..." Lorelai replied. "But they said they found Jess's shirt at Taylor's house."

"So."

"So, what if there's been more planted evidence in your apartment?" Lorelai concluded.

"That's impossible. No one has been in my apartment."

"That you know of." Lorelai remarked. "How did Jess's shirt get at Taylor's?"

Luke sighed. "What do I do? Go back up there and tell them that any evidence they find is fake? That it's all been plotted and planned? They're never going to believe that."

"We have to find out who really did this." Lorelai proclaimed.

"How?"

"I'm not sure. But we know this town and the people in it way better than the police. They think they've already found the killer... they're not even close."

"Lorelai, we can't just go looking for a murderer." Luke replied.

"Why not?" Lorelai asked. "Do you want Jess in jail for the rest of his life?"

"Of course not." Luke answered quickly.

"Then we have to prove he's innocent."

(The Prison)

"Boy, you better start complying or else you're going to really regret it." officer Kenneth yelled.

"I already told you, I didn't do anything." Jess replied.

Kenneth slammed his fists down on the table. "Now, you look here... your shirt was found at the crime scene with Taylor Doose's blood all over it. How did your shirt get there?"

"I don't know." Jess said smoothly. "I guess someone set me up."

"Someone set you up?" Kenneth chuckled. "Mr. Mariano, isn't it true you've been arrested before?"

"Yeah."

"And what was you arrested for?"

"Theft." Jess shot back.

"You've been in and out of trouble all your life. Mostly in." Kenneth observed. "Regular problem child." Kenneth stood up from his seat and walked over closer to Jess. "Do you understand there's a man dead in Stars Hollow? Do you understand that you've caused chaos and destruction?"

Jess didn't answer.

"Why did you do it?" Kenneth finally asked. "What finally pushed you to murder Taylor Doose?" Kenneth leaned in towards Jess until he was nose to nose with him.

"Get out of my face." Jess replied.

"Are you threatening me, boy?"

Jess continued his cold dead stare. "Get out of my face." he repeated.

Kenneth smiled and stepped back away from Jess. He raised his arm and scratched behind his head. Abruptly he brought it back down and smacked Jess across the face.

"You're life is going to hell from now on."

(Luke's apartment)

"Hey, Carl, you'd better take a look at this." one of the officers replied.

Carl walked over to Jess's side of the apartment. Slid neatly under Jess's mattress was a Bowie knife.

"Take that into the station." Carl ordered. "Find out if it matches the knife used to slice of the victim."

"Carl!" Another officer called. "Check this out."

Carl walked over to the other side of the room. Located in a shoe box hid in a closet, were Polaroid pictures of Taylor's decapitated body.

"This kid is sick." Carl replied flipping through the pictures.

"Looks like he's a fan of his own work." the officer commented.

"Well, gentleman there's no doubt about it... The Hollow Hunt is over. We've found our killer." Carl placed the pictures into an evidence bag. "Won't be hard to convince a jury with these."

(Outside of Luke's Diner)

"Please, just let me tell you what I know." Kirk insisted.

Detective Cook sighed. "Fine. What do you know?"

"I've heard Luke and Jess threaten Taylor many times." Kirk began. "Taylor even told me once that he was scared of Jess. Taylor said Jess was so drugged out that he was liable to do anything."

"Jess Mariano is on drugs?" Cook asked.

"That's what Taylor said. But I can believe it, he's always acting as if he is spaced out." You should do a drug search.

"We have a team searching the apartment now. If there's any drugs located there, they'll find them." Cook replied. "Is that all Kirk?" Cook asked planning her getaway from the annoying little man.

"Well... I saw Jess the morning of Taylor's murder." Kirk confessed.

"Where did you see him?" Cook asked, suddenly interested.

"In the alley behind the diner. I wouldn't have thought anything strange about it, but he was shirtless." Kirk added. "And he was carrying a small black bag."


	11. He Wears The Mask Of An Angel

(Gilmore House)

Lorelai and Luke had set up a study system in Lorelai's kitchen. They had notes, and maps, and plenty of coffee sitting on the table. They had been reviewing and concluding and deciphering all the information they had the time being. They had even made a few phone calls. Rory who had came home early from a night out with Dean, was speechless when she walked into the kitchen.

"Rory... Hey." Lorelai greeted when she noticed her daughter standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked confused.

Lorelai looked around at the huge mess of papers on the table. "Trying to figure out who killed Taylor." She replied seriously.

"Luke, you're going along with this?" Rory asked.

Luke's face remained straight. "Yeah. They police have the wrong guy. We have to find the right one, before it's too late."

"The wrong guy?" Rory repeated. "Who's the wrong guy?"

"Jess." Luke answered swiftly.

"Jess!" Rory exclaimed. "The police arrested Jess!"

"Sweetie, calm down." Lorelai replied. "We're going to fix this."

"This gets crazier every day." Rory said putting her hand to her head. "I'm going to lay down."

Luke nor Lorelai responded to Rory's comment.

"Hey, have you called Babette yet?" Luke asked, reviewing the notes.

"No. I thought you did?" Lorelai asked.

"You said you was going to call her."

"No, I said I'd call Gypsy."

"Gypsy?" Luke repeated. "You haven't mentioned her name all night."

"Yes, I did." Lorelai defended. "I said you call Babette and I'll call Gypsy."

"Fine..." Luke ended. "Did you call Gypsy?"

"No, I was waiting on you to call Babette."

"Alright, I'm calling Babette right now." Luke confirmed. "What is it we wanted to ask her again?"

Lorelai grabbed a paper. "Umm... Where she was the morning Taylor was murdered. If she saw anything strange that day. Does she know of anyone being upset with Taylor recently."

"Okay, got it." Luke replied as he picked up the phone and dialed the number.

The two continuously worked throughout the night.

(The Prison)

"He wont talk." Kenneth replied looking through the two way mirror.

"How did he get a cut on his lip?" Cook asked suspiciously.

"Got into a little brawl with his cell mate." Kenneth remarked.

"Mm Hm." Cook nodded her head slightly. "Mr. Kenneth, I hope you're aware Jess is only 17 years old."

"And?"

"And that makes it illegal for you to hit him, unless it was in self defense."

"I told you what happened." Kenneth shot back.

"I know what happened." Cook interrupted. "It better not happen again."

(Gilmore kitchen)

"So..." Luke said, breaking the silence that had filled the kitchen.

"If what everyone said is true..." Lorelai added.

"Then all the evidence points to the same person." Luke finished.

"It's uncanny that everyone's statements, and evidence links back to him." Lorelai concluded. "It has to be the truth."

Luke stood up from the table. "We have to go to the police. We have to show them all this..."

"What about Rory?" Lorelai asked softly. "How do I tell her that her boyfriend is a murderer?"


	12. Even If I Fall

(Police station)

"You have to believe us." Luke said rasing his voice. "We've been up all night, we have all the notes to prove it."

"Mr, Danes, your notes aren't proof of anything." Cook rejected.

"All we're asking is that you review them." Lorelai pleaded. "Ask the people yourself if you have to. You have the wrong person in jail."

"Okay, Mrs. Gilmore, just out of curiosity, who do you think killed Taylor Doose?" Cook humored.

"Dean Forester." Lorelai stated solidly.

"Why do you think that?" Cook continued.

Lorelai pulled out the notes.

"We talked with Babette yesterday. She said he had heard Taylor and Dean arguing. Dean had been cutting his shifts early at work. Also, he had been stealing sodas from the freezer. Taylor had threatened to fire Dean, if he didn't repay for the sodas, and straighten up his act."

Luke pulled out his set of notes. "At 5:30 am, Dean was on the street at 5:30 am the morning Taylor had been killed, by Gypsy. She was walking towards her garage getting ready to open when she noticed Dean walking briskly back towards his house.

"Dean has a knife collection." Lorelai added.

"The day before Taylor was murdered." Luke said leaning closer to Cook. "Dean was in my apartment. He said he needed a screwdriver, so I told him to grab one from upstairsThat gave him the perfect opportunity to take one of Jess's shirts, and leave it at the crime scene so that Jess would get the blame."

Cook was impressed with the armature detective work. "I'm sorry." Cook finally replied. "There's no hard evidence in anything you just told me."

"Come on, there at least has to be enough here to label Dean as a suspect." Luke remarked.

"We'll check into it." Cook answered. "If you're trying to get Jess off the hook; however, you've not done so. If anything, you've made the homicide look like a partnership between the two boys. I hope this doesn't backfire in your faces."

Lorelai and Luke stood silent. They were so sure they had found the real killer, but it didn't appear that justice would be served.

"Mr. Danes. I'll make sure that your nephew has a fair trial. Whether he be guilty or innocent." Cook said as she turned and walked away.

"What kind of evidence did they find in your apartment?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know." Luke replied. "They wouldn't tell me."

Lorelai sighed. "I have to get back to Rory."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Luke asked.

"No... I can handle it."

(Gilmore house)

"You've lost your mind." Rory snapped as she jumped up from the kitchen table.

"Rory, honey..." Lorelai jumped up after her.

"Leave me alone." Rory demanded. "I don't want to talk about this anymore." she tossed her body onto her bed.

"Rory, please, listen to me." Lorelai grabbed Rory by the arm. "I would never lie to you."

"How could you say that?" Rory asked heartbroken. "How could you even think that?"

"Luke and I was up all night. We've talked to everyone, we've taken notes." Lorelai paused. "He's the only one who makes sense."

"You don't judge whether or not things make sense!" Rory shot back. "You're not a detective. You don't decide who is innocent and who is guilty." Rory's eyes began to tear up. "Dean would never hurt anyone."

"Rory I know this is hard for you. I know it hurts, and I know you hate me right now. But you have to trust me babe, I'd never accuse Dean of this if I wasn't sure he did it."

"I don't believe it's true..." Rory whispered through her tears.

"I don't want you seeing him anymore." Lorelai admitted, although she picked the wrong time to do so.

Rory's face lit up with anger. "You're acting like Grandma!" Rory hissed.

That comment hurt Lorelai more than she would show. "No." Lorelai replied. "I'm acting like your mother."

Rory turned over in her bed, facing away from her mother. "Go away." She mumbled.

"I love you, Rory."

This comment confused Rory. Why would she say that at this moment?

"Rory..." Lorelai repeated. "I love you."

"I heard you." Rory responded keeping her back to her.

"You're my everything." Lorelai continued.

"Mom, please, just go away." Rory's voice softened.

"Okay." Lorelai finally subsided. She raised from the bed and walked out of the room.

She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. That had went surprisingly well, considering the reaction she was expecting. Lorelai knew, however, that as long as she ended the argument with "I love you." It would sink into Rory's head that Lorelai was acting with the best of intentions.

(The prison)

"Are you doing okay?" Luke asked.

"As well as one can do I suppose." Jess answered.

Luke nodded. "I guess that's not very well." Luke looked closer at Jess's face. "Did someone hit you?"

"Aah, it's nothing." Jess replied.

"Jess, who hit you?"Luke asked sternly.

"It's not a big deal, alright. Just drop it."

Luke exhaled deeply. "Jess, do you have any idea who could have really killed Taylor?"

Jess paused. "No..."

"What about Dean?"

"What about him?" Jess asked with interest.

"Is it possible he could have set you up?" Luke asked.

"You think Dean set me up?" Jess exclaimed. "Over Rory, right?"

"I'm not sure." Luke admitted. "Why would he set you up over Rory?"

"Cause he thinks I'm trying to break them up!" Jess jumped from his seat. "That son of bitch is the reason I'm in here."

"Whoa." Luke stood up as well. "Calm down. I'm not trying to put ideas into your head."

"Ideas?" Jess mimicked. "Nothing else makes sense!"

"I've told the police already." Luke said cooly. "They said it only makes it look like the murder was a partnership between you and Dean."

"A partnership?" Jess asked. He paced the room frantically.

"Luke, they're going to sentence me to life in prison for something I didn't do." Jess's voice showed concern and fear for the first time. "Dean must be a lunatic to kill Taylor and pin the death on me, just because I like Rory." Jess's heart pounded as he suddenly thought about Rory. "I swear to God, if he hurts her!..." Jess roared.

"That's not going to happen." Luke interrupted. "I'll never let that happen."


	13. Can You Actually Prove It ?

Rory finally opened the door to her room and walked out. Lorelai was sitting peacefully on the couch reviewing her murder notes. She didn't realize Rory had walked into the room.

"You've got a lot of notes." Rory spoke, startling Lorelai.

"Yeah." Lorelai replied.

"They all say Dean did it?" Rory asked in almost a bashful tone.

Lorelai shook her head. "I know this has to be so hard for you."

Rory looked down at the ground. "Why would Dean want to kill Taylor?"

"They were having some problems over work. Taylor found out Dean had been stealing soda and cutting his shifts early."

"That's no reason to kill." Rory interrupted.

"You're right. It isn't." Lorelai remarked.

Rory grabbed her jacket laying on the chair. "I'm going to go for a walk."

"Rory, I don't think you should be out by yourself."

"Fine, I'll ask Lane to come with me."

"If you're still upset about this, then let's talk. Please, don't leave angry."

"I just need some time to think." Rory replied as she walked out the door.

(Sidewalk)

"Your mom and Luke think that Dean killed Taylor?" Lane asked shocked. "Wow."

"I know." Rory answered.

"Do you believe them?"

"I don't know."

"This is way out there." Lane concluded.

"I know."

"Will I become rich and famous?" Lane asked off topic.

"What?" Rory asked, breaking her daze.

"Sorry." Lane smiled a little. "Just trying to follow the pattern."

"No, I'm sorry. I'm just not thinking straight."

"Hey, I understand that." Lane replied. "I don't think my mind would be too clear either.

Suddenly, Dean popped around the corner. "Rory." he greeted happily. "Hey." he smiled.

Rory's body tightened. "Hey."

Lane's eyes widened and her heart began thumping.

"I tried calling your house earlier." Dean stated. "I didn't get an answer though. I guess that's because you obviously wasn't home."

"Yeah. Obviously." Rory repeated timidly.

"I was going to ask you if you'd like to come over and watch a movie tonight. I rented one of your favorites, Casablanca." Dean smiled again.

"Uh.." Rory thought quickly. "I can't. I have to help my mom tonight."

"With what?" Dean asked.

"Cleaning." Rory shot back.

"Cleaning?"

"Yeah. She's going to do major cleaning and she needs my help." Rory swallowed heavily.

"Well, I can come over and help too. Then if we get done early enough we could just watch the movie there." Dean suggested.

"No. That won't work." Rory replied.

Dean let out a half laugh. "Why not?"

"Cause we'll never get finished early. Besides I've seen that movie a hundred times."

"You watch the same movies over and over every day." Dean stated annoyed.

"Look, I just can't. I'm sorry."

"Rory, what's going on with you?" Dean lifted his arms.

"You know what." Lane interrupted. "I have to be home in like 5 minutes or Mama will be very angry."

Dean looked at her as if he had just noticed she was standing there.

"Right." Rory agreed. "Let's go."

"Rory..." Dean called. "Wait."

Rory continued to walk down the street without looking back.

"Rory!" He repeated louder. Still he received no response. He sighed, and started walking in the opposite direction.

"Wow." Lane said with her mouth gaping.

"Thanks for making an escape route." Rory replied.

"No problem. I could tell you was getting really freaked back there. Unfortunately, I think Dean caught on too."

"I don't want to believe it, Lane." Rory said heartbrokenly. "But my mom is so sure of it."

"Lorelai's usually right about things." Lane admitted. "I don't think she would tell you something like that unless she was confident."

"I know she wouldn't." Rory reluctantly confessed. "I wish none of this had ever happened."

"Well one thing is for sure." Lane began. "You can't let Dean know that you know."


	14. Openly Closed

"Hello?"

"Lorelai, Detective Cook just called me." Luke replied quickly. "They've decided to question Dean."

"They did?" Lorelai smiled. "That's great. That means they took us seriously. We can work towards proving Jess is innocent."

"I know." Luke sighed with relief. "It's refreshing to see the police heading in the right direction for once." A pause. "Have you told Rory, yet?"

"Yeah..." Lorelai's disposition converted. "She's not taking it too well."

Luke nodded his head. "I figured that."

"She doesn't want to believe it. Of course I can't say that I blame her."

"You have to make her realize that it's the truth."

"I'm trying." Lorelai replied softly.

"Maybe if I talked to her." Luke offered.

"No..." Lorelai answered quickly. "That'll only make her feel like she's being ganged up on."

"Oh... well, okay. If you need me for anything... call."

"I will. Bye, Luke."

Rory walked in and slouched down on the couch. She grabbed a pillow and cuddled up to it. This was Lorelai's cue.

"Hey, stranger." Lorelai greeted as she came over and sat down beside Rory. "Haven't talked with you in a while."

"We talked an hour ago." Rory's voice was muffled by the pillow.

"Aw, that wasn't really talking." Lorelai replied. "Did your walk help?"

"No." Rory answered gravely.

"Oh... Hm, maybe if you talked about it, you'd feel better."

Rory straightened her body and came face to face with her mother. "I saw Dean."

My, my, what an attention grabber. Lorelai became immediately intrigued. "What happened?"

"Nothing. He wanted me to come over to his house and watch a movie tonight. I told him no."

Lorelai was impressed. Perhaps she had gotten through to her daughter after all. "I'm glad you did." Lorelai smiled.

(Police Department)

"You have a visitor." Cook said to Jess as she walked up to his cell.

"Who?" Jess asked in a unconcerned manner.

"A young girl. Goes by Rory Gilmore."

Suddenly Jess's eyes lit up and he jumped to her feet.

Cook smiled. "You have 10 minutes."

Rory walked up to the cell. "Hey." She greeted with a fake, yet sincere smile.

"Hey." Jess returned.

"How are you?"

"Fine. You?"

"Fine."

"Good."

"Yeah."

"Rory... I didn't kill Taylor." Jess looked deeply into her eyes. "Someone has set up me up."

"I know." Rory admitted. "My mom and Luke are working really hard to get you out of here... for good."

"It won't do any good. My trial is Thursday. It'll be up the jury then." Jess sighed. "They found a lot of planted evidence in my side of the apartment."

"Jess, who do you think set you up? Rory asked directly.

Jess paused for a moment. "I think it was Dean." He finally announced. "And I know he's your all American sweetheart, but it's the only logical reasoning behind any of this."

"I'm sorry this is happening to you." Rory replied. She turned to leave.

"Hey, where are you going?" Jess called.

"I'll see you at the trial." Rory said as she continued to walk away.

(Luke's Diner)

As Luke was closing down the diner, and straightening up the chairs he noticed napkin laying on one of the tables. Ordinarily, he wouldn't be concerned over a napkin, but this one has writing on it. He picked it up and read it. _Stop playing detective before someone gets hurt. _

This was it, this would prove Jess was innocent. Luke locked up the dinner swiftly and headed to the police station. They wanted their cold hard proof and now they were going to get it.


	15. Oceans Deep With Tears

"See, this proves whoever killed Taylor is still out there." Luke slammed the napkin down on Cook's desk.

"Mr. Danes..." Cook replied. "Please do not slam things on my desk."

Luke smiled. "We told you all along."

"We'll have the evidence department check it out, but Jess is still going on trial Thursday."

"I know that." Luke remarked. "Did you ever get anywhere with Dean?"

"He's been brought in for questioning." Cook answered. "That's all I know for now."

"Well, is he going to be put on trial as well?" Luke pushed.

"I don't know that as of right now."

"I hope you figure it out before it's too late." Luke turned and walked out of Cook's office.

(Gilmore House)

"Someone wrote you a note on a napkin?"

"Yep. Pretty dumb, eh?"

Lorelai's eyes widened. "Luke... It's not Dean."

"What?" Luke asked surprised.

Lorelai paced the kitchen. "It's not Dean... How could it be Dean if there was a napkin? Was Dean in your diner today?"

Luke paused as he thought. "No."

"Then Dean didn't write the note." Lorelai concluded.

Luke bit his lip and shook his head. "I didn't think of that."

Lorelai exhaled deeply. "Perhaps Dean is still in on all of this. Perhaps there is a second killer."

"Lorelai this is all just getting too complex." Luke admitted. "We were so sure that Dean was the one, now look, it's like it's all started over."

"No.. It's not started over." Lorelai replied. "It's just beginning."

"Huh?" Luke asked, not following,

"Whoever wrote on the napkin was obviously at your diner today. So, already we have a narrowed number of people that could be the true killer."

"Yeah, but there's no way I can remember every single person I served today."

"No..." Lorelai agreed. "You can't. But you can guarantee that whoever this is, has came into your diner before and will be back again."

Luke was mesmerized by Lorelai's quick thinking. She belonged in the FBI with a mind like her's. He smiled. "You're a genius."

"I know." Lorelai teased.

(The Prison's Questioning Room)

"I already told you. I don't know anything." Dean protested. "Now, let me go!"

"Calm down, Mr. Forester. You'll go home when we let you." Kenneth replied.

"Am I going to be arrested?" Dean asked fearfully.

"Well, that depends on how you answer these next few questions." Kenneth smiled. "Are you dating a young girl named Rory Gilmore?"

Dean didn't see a point behind this question, but answered it anyway. "Yeah."

"Do you love her?"

Dean glared. "How does this have anything to do with Taylor?"

"Mr. Forester, do you _love_ your girlfriend?"

"Yes." Dean replied. "I do."

"So you'd do almost anything for her, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah."

"And you know Jess Mariano?"

Dean's facial expression suddenly changed. "Yeah, I know Jess."

"And you know that Jess likes Rory."

"Yeah, he's made that clear in the past." Dean grunted.

"You don't like Jess, then do you?"

"No. Not really."

"Um Hm." Kenneth stood from his chair and paced around the room. "Do you have a knife collection?"

"Yeah." Dean replied as he started to become nervous.

"Are you missing a knife from your collection, Mr. Forester?"

"How did you know that?" Dean shot back quickly.

Kenneth walked over and pulled out a bag that had a Bowie knife inside it. Dean's eyes became wide as the oceans when he saw the shiny cool blade.

"Is this your missing knife?" Kenneth asked.

Dean's breathing increased rapidly. "Where did you get my knife?"

"So, this is your knife?"

"Where did you find it?"

"It was found in Luke Dane's apartment." Kenneth replied. "Along with these." Kenneth showed Dean the pictures of Taylor's headless body. Dean turned his head from the disgusting pictures. "Any idea who took these?"

"No!" Dean yelled refusing to look at anymore pictures.

"You and Taylor weren't getting along very well right before he died. He was considering firing you."

"Taylor and I were arguing, but it wasn't anything serious..." Dean replied frantically.

"Some guy comes along, wants to break up you and your girlfriend..." Kenneth began. "Your boss is threatening to fire you. Seems like you was just having a really bad time. But then you saw a way out. Kill your boss, blame it on the guy. Problem solved. Is that what you thought?"

"No! I swear!" Dean had started sweating and was fidgeting in his chair. "I didn't kill Taylor!"

Kenneth folded his arms across his chest. "Are you afraid of dark cold jail cells?"


	16. Lost In The Dark

(Thursday Morning. Court Room)

Rory, Lorelai and Luke sat together as the trial began. As predicted, Dean and Jess were both on trial. When Dean walked into the courtroom his eyes fell upon Rory. He stared at her for several moments. She looked very confused and upset. He wanted to feel sorry for her, and tell her everything was okay, but at the same time he hated her and her mother. It was their fault he was mixed up in this to begin with.

Jess walked in after Dean. He first noticed Luke who was trying to keep from looking nervous. Then he looked at Lorelai, she looked very beautiful today. He hadn't noticed before just how attractive she was. No wonder Luke was crazy about her, Jess thought to himself. Then, he spotted Rory. Sweet, innocent Rory. He could only imagine what this was doing to her. She looked up and her eyes met his. He leaned his head forward, then brought it back, symbolizing a hello. She slowly raised her hand and signaled hello back.

Many people took the stand that day. Sookie, Miss Patty, Babette, Gypsy, and Jackson all gave testimonies. Most of the stories leaned in the innocense of Jess and the guiltiness of Dean. The story was appearing very heavily one sided. During a recess, Jess walked back to speak with Luke and Lorelai.

"This is going over well." Jess began.

"Yeah, it is." Luke smiled. "Looks like you're going to be okay."

Jess focused his attention on Rory. "Hey."

"Hey." She repeated.

"Thanks for coming."

"Jess, there's something I need to tell you." Luke began. "We're not so sure now that Dean is the real killer."

"What?" Jess asked in disbelief.

"I got a note at the diner."

"So?"

"So, Dean wasn't at the diner that day."

Jess put his hands behind his head in frustration. "That doesn't mean dean didn't set me up." Jess replied.

"Yeah, it kind of does." Lorelai added.

"Well, that's not for you to decide." Jess remarked. "It's up the jury now."

"Jess.." Luke began.

"Hey, I didn't kill anyone either! But that isn't stopping them from putting my ass on trial." Jess quickly turned and walked back to his seat.

After the recess was over the judge called the court back to order.

"Ladies and gentleman that will be all for today. Court will open again tomorrow at 10:00 am. Thank you." He hit his gavel and dismissed the court.

(Luke's Diner later that day)

"Rory, I'm sorry." Lorelai said trying to break the silence that had fallen between them.

Rory didn't respond. She continued to push around the food that was on her plate.

"I was wrong." Lorelai confessed. "But Dean had all the evidence against him Just like Jess did."

"You said you was so sure." Rory mimicked.

"I Know." Lorelai replied sorrowfully. "I shouldn't have."

"You shouldn't have tried to figure things out anyway." Rory snapped. "You're not a detective. All you did was make things worse."

"Okay..." Lorelai began. "I deserved that."

"He's not going to want to be my boyfriend after all of this." Rory replied as tears filled her eyes. "He hates me now."

"Sweetie..."

"He hates me... and it's your fault!"

"Rory, honey, I'm sure he doesn't hate you."

"There you go saying how sure you are of something again." Rory jumped up and ran out of the diner.

Lorelai quickly took after her. Rory darted out into the street forcing a car to slam on its breaks. Rory froze as she saw the car skidding towards her. She tried to get out of the way, but it was as if her body had forgotten how to move. Suddenly, Lorelai's arms wrapped around Rory and pulled her out of the car's path. They both fell back onto the sidewalk gasping for breath.

Lorelai immediately began to check her daughter. "Are you okay?" she asked concerned.

Rory shook her head yes.

"Promise me you'll never do anything like that again." Lorelai replied, as tears whelmed in her eyes as well.

"I promise."

Lorelai helped her daughter up from the ground. The young man who was driving the car came running over to them.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" he asked.

"She's fine." Lorelai answered.

"I'm so sorry! I tried to stop, but the car kept going. I..."

Lorelai held up her hand. "It's okay. Honest. We're just going to head on home."

"Is there anything I can do?" the young man asked hopefully.

"No thank you." Lorelai replied guiding her daughter down the street.


	17. Evil Has Two Forms

"But we have new information." Luke protested as he followed after Cook.

"Luke... everyday for the past 2 weeks you've came into my office and told me you've found new evidence, you have new information, that we're all on the wrong track."

"I know, but..."

"We've already started the trial Luke... Any information you have now will just have to wait and show itself at the appeal, providing there is one."

Cook attempted to walk away. Luke grabbed her by the arm. "What's more important to you, finding the real guy that did this, or following your little detective guide book?"

Cook's eyes focused strongly on his. "Go home Mr. Danes. We've nothing more to discuss."

(Courtroom 3 days later)

"Please stand for the honorable Judge Paul Cheney."

"You may be seated." The judge fiddled around with some papers, and then took a sip of water. Everyone in the courtroom waited impatiently for him to speak. Finally, he looked up from his papers. "Has the jury reached a verdict?" he asked.

"We have your honor." The leading juror answered while standing from his seat.

"Please inform the court." The judge replied.

Everyone became deathly silent. Lorelai and Rory were clutching onto each other. Sookie and Jackson had their hands locked. Luke sat firmly, yet awkwardly in his seat trying to not show any signs of emotions. Dean had his eyes closed breathing deeply, and Jess sat cooly with his arms crossed.

"We the jury find the defendant Jess Mariano guilty of murder."

A rush of gasps flew over the courtroom. Whispers broke lose, and sounds of crying became audible. Luke fought back the tears and it was the hardest battle of his life. Jess's body was shaking a little from the shock, he looked down and focused on a single tile of the floor. The room around him and the people in it became distant. How could this be? All the testimonies, all the witnesses, they were in Jess's favor.

"Order... Order." The judge proclaimed as he pounded his gavel. The courtroom reluctantly grew silent again. "Continue, please."

"We the jury find the defendant Dean Forester guilty of murder."

Faces froze. Mouths dropped. Tears fell. Hearts thumped. Both boys, guilty. Lorelai looked over at Rory who was crying silently. She glanced over at Luke who had his head buried in his hands. She suddenly felt nauseous as if she needed to puke. She heard the pounding of the gavel once again. She looked up and tried to focus on the judge.

"Mr. Mariano, please stand for your sentence."

Jess slowly and shakily stood to his feet.

"Mr. Mariano you are sentenced to 100 years in prison. Your sentence will take place immediately after you leave the courtroom today. You have no possibility of parole." The judge paused. "Mr. Forester, please stand."

Dean who was wiping away a few tears, stood to his feet.

"Mr. Forester, you are sentenced to 120 years in prison, no possibility of parole. Your sentence will be effective immediately after you leave court today. Court is dismissed." Cheney pounded the gavel one last time. Each thump driving a nail in Dean and Jess's hearts.

Luke quickly ran up to Jess before the police handcuffed him. "We'll appeal... Don't worry..." Luke blurted as they carried Jess out of the court. Jess looked back at him, and for the first time ever, Luke saw a frightened little boy. The saddest part being, this time... Jess wasn't guilty.

Luke closed the diner down for a few days. He was in no mood to work, and furthermore no condition. Lorelai hadn't been to the inn either. Rory was still going to school, since she had missed a couple of days to attend the trial. If it wasn't for that reason however, she would be laying in her bed refusing to face the cruel world that surrounded her.

Lorelai desperately wanted to call Luke, but she knew now wasn't the time. Then again, when would be? The pain he must be feeling had to be beyond Lorelai's understanding. She kept asking herself, what if it was Rory who had been sent to jail for 100 years? The thought alone was enough to break Lorelai's heart, she couldn't imagine it being the actual truth. Lorelai had hope for the appeal, but she knew it was slim. She felt like the innocense of Stars Hollow had been taken away. The storybook world in which they lived had been slammed shut, never to open again. She realized that things were bad, but when Rory came home with a black eye and busted lip she realized bad was an understatement.


	18. Simple Little Problems

"Oh my god!" Lorelai jumped to her feet and ran towards Rory. "What happened?"

Rory looked up into her mother's heavily concerned eyes. "I was jumped by a group of girls at the bus station." Rory replied in a dry tone.

"Why?" Lorelai asked quickly, her eyes squinting.

"Cause they were all upset over Jess and Dean." Rory sniffled a little. "They said it was all my fault." she sobbed.

Anger filled Lorelai to the brim. How dare someone harass Rory, and blame her for something she had absolutely no control over. Lorelai wanted to head down to the bus station and beat the hell out of every girl there, even if they were a group of sixteen year olds.

"Do you know any of the girls that did this?" Lorelai asked.

"A couple..." Rory paused. "Erin Shamblin and Elizabeth Endicott."

Lorelai's mouth gaped. "Elizabeth? Wow... I never knew she had it in her."

"Me either." Rory replied, wiping away a couple of tears and pulling herself back together. She started to walk off towards her room.

"Wait a minute." Lorelai began. "Are you okay? Do you need to go to the doctor or anything?"

"I'll be fine."

"I think you need some ice. I hope your face doesn't swell too much." Lorelai sympathized. "I'll talk to the mothers of the girls who did this."

"No..." Rory rejected. "It'll only make things worse."

"Rory..."

"No!"

"Okay." Lorelai surrendered. "Not talking."

"I just want to go away." Rory pleaded. "Please, let's just leave."

"Aw, sweetie running away wouldn't solve anything." Lorelai replied reaching out to put her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "We'd look like we were ashamed if we did that."

"I am ashamed." Rory confirmed. "You should be too." With that Rory left the livingroom and slammed the door to her bedroom. Lorelai let out a deep sigh.

(Gilmore house later that evening)

"She'll come around." Sookie said handing Lorelai a cup of coffee. "It's a lot for a kid to take on."

"Sookie, two teenage boys are in prison... for life... and they're innocent." Lorelai took a sip of coffee. "Jess, I don't feel responsible for, but Dean..." Lorelai couldn't finish.

"It's still scarey to think that the true murderer is out there."

"I don't even care anymore." Lorelai replied. "There's been so much pain, and so much hurt."

Suddenly the phone rang. "Hello?" Sookie answered. "Yeah, just a second." She handed the phone to Lorelai.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Gilmore, this is Detective Cook. I was wondering if Mr. Danes was at your house?"

Lorelai found this question odd. "No... He isn't. Is something wrong?"

Cook sighed. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Lorelai pressed her hand to her heart, and closed her eyes. "What is it?"

"Jess tried to escape from prison this morning." A pause. "He almost succeeded..."

"What do you mean almost succeeded?" Lorelai asked quickly.

"He was about to clear the fence... It's the prison guard's duty to shoot when a prisoner is near escaping."

Lorelai's breathing became heavy and irregular. She swallowed loudly. "Is he dead?" she managed to ask.

"No..." Cook replied. "He's not. He's in the hospital."

"I'll tell Luke as soon as I see him." Lorelai said hanging up the phone.

Sookie only heard one side of the conversation, but it was enough to send chills down her spine.

"Lorelai?" she asked. "Who...?"

"Jess." Lorelai answered shortly. "He tried to escape. They shot him."

Sookie's hand covered her mouth immediately. "Is he alright?"

"He's in the hospital. I have to find Luke."

"I'll stay here with Rory." Sookie suggested. "But be careful."

"I will." Lorelai replied as she grabbed her keys and began to leave the kitchen. She turned and faced Rory's bedroom door. Something was wrong, something was missing. She slowly walked over and opened the door. Sookie stood back not sure what Lorelai was doing. When the door completely opened, Lorelai was left gazing into an empty room. Rory's window was open, and a note lay on the bed. Lorelai grabbed the note.

_Dear Mom, _

_I understand that you can't just leave Stars Hollow. You have too much pride to do so. I on the other hand must leave Stars Hollow to save what little pride I have remaining. I'll be fine. I'll find somewhere to live and start my life over, just like you did. _

_Love Always, _

_Rory. _

Lorelai held the letter close to her chest.

"Okay, new game plan." Sookie interrupted. "I'll find Luke... You find Rory."


	19. Twisted Straight

Sookie had one good idea where she could find Luke. Luke was a simple guy, it didn't take much to figure him out. When she pulled up to the pond, she saw his truck. She grabbed a flashlight and headed towards the dock. Sure enough, there he sat drinking a bear and looking up at the stars.

"Luke!" she called.

He turned around quickly and jumped up. "Sookie?"

"Luke, you have to come back to town."

"Why? What's wrong?" Luke walked closer to her.

"Jess is in the hospital. He tried to escape from the prison and they shot him."

"What!" Luke yelled in disbelief. "Damn it!"

"There's no time to curse, you have to get to the hospital and I have to help Lorelai. Rory is missing."

Luke's face turned pale. "It never freaking ends." he muttered.

Now, if Sookie had a strong enough connection with Luke to know where he was hiding out. Of course Lorelai would be lead straight to Rory. Several places however, crossed Lorelai's mind of where Rory could be, but one called out more than the others. When Lorelai arrived at the bus stop she found her daughter sitting there shivering.

"Planning on catching the 10:00 bus?" Lorelai asked.

Rory quickly looked up. "It's not running tonight is it?" Rory answered.

"Afraid not. You should have checked the bus schedule before you ran away." She sat down beside her daughter.

"How did you know I was here?" Rory asked.

"Well, you said you was leaving town to start over. You don't have a car, or any friends that have a car. So, unless you planned on walking..."

"I guess you want me to come home." Rory replied not showing any sign of emotion.

Lorelai sighed. "Yes, I do." Rory was still shivering. Lorelai slid off her jacket and wrapped it around her daughter. She gently pulled Rory closer to her and held her. "But we'll sit here until your ready."

Amazing... How did Lorelai do it? Every time Rory was mad or upset, Lorelai could swoop in say and do exactly the right thing and heal all the pain Rory was feeling. Rory guessed that was just a mother's special touch. After a few minutes of silence Rory exhaled deeply.

"Okay." she half laughed. "I'm ready."

Lorelai smiled. "Good... I'm freezing."

The girls headed back to the jeep. Lorelai turned the key to the ignition several times but the jeep wouldn't start.

"Huh, that's weird." Lorelai noted. "It's never done this before."

"Try pumping the gas pedal." Rory suggested.

Lorelai gave Rory an awkward look. "Okay." she pumped the gas pedal several times, but still the engine would not start.

"Looks like we're going to have to walk, kiddo." Lorelai said sorrowfully. "I can call and have the jeep towed in the morning, everything's already closed tonight."

"Now, I'm sorry I picked the farthest bus top from our house." Rory replied. "Though seemed like a good idea when I was running away."

"Yeah." Lorelai agreed. "Well, see how easy it is to make a mistake?"

The girls started walking, after a couple of minutes Rory stopped and turned around.

"I keep hearing something." Rory whispered.

"Well, don't stop... let's just keep moving."

"Mom, I really hear something."

Lorelai gazed around the street. "Rory it's probably just a dog, or a cat..." suddenly Lorelai's eyes caught a glimpse of a head peep around a nearby tree. "Or a person."

Rory let out a small gasp and stepped closer to her mother. "Mom..."

"Shh.." Lorelai replied. "Hello?"

"Lorelai?" a voice asked.

"Kirk?" Lorelai returned. "What are you doing?"

Kirk came out from behind the tree. "I'm following you."

Lorelai paused for a moment and tilted her head slightly to the left "Why are following us?"

Kirk walked over closer to them. "Isn't it funny Lorelai, how everyone has been acting these past few weeks?" Lorelai didn't answer. "Taylor is killed, and suddenly everyone is a suspect. Everyone started accusing everyone. Jess was arrested, and Dean..." Kirk laughed. "You and Luke did quite the job on him. 120 years. My that's impressive."

Kirk's creepy tone and behavior was starting to freak Lorelai out. She took hold of Rory's hand and pulled Rory behind her in a sense of protection. "Kirk... did you kill Taylor?" Lorelai asked.

Again Kirk laughed. "Did I kill Taylor?" he repeated. "You just like to accuse everyone, don't you?"

"No, it's just the way you're acting..." Lorelai defended.

"Everyone thinks I'm an idiot." Kirk interrupted. "Everyone thinks I'm the gawky, strange, Pee-Wee Herman of Stars Hollow. Well, I'm not!" Kirk roared.

Lorelai and Rory both jumped back a couple of inches. "No one thinks that." Lorelai replied, trying to calm Kirk down.

"Looks like I'm the smartest one in this town." Kirk smiled. "I fooled the police, I fooled all the town folk... I really fooled you Lorelai. Clever, quirky, witty Lorelai." A pause. "How can a loser... a geek... harbor so much control over an entire town?"

"You killed Taylor to prove you had control?" Lorelai asked.

Kirk pulled out a knife from his jacket pocket. Lorelai's grip on Rory's hand became tighter. "No..." Kirk replied. "I didn't want to prove I had control. I wanted to prove that I was much more than just an idiot. So, I devised a plan to kill off the most well known man in town." Kirk began to fiddle with the knife. "My plan was for Jess to get pinned with the murder, but once you stuck your two cents in and brought Dean in on it, I was so far out of the picture that no one even questioned me. I actually had to go to the police and offer them my story. How sad is that, Lorelai? How sad is it they the whole town gets questioned, and yet they leave out Kirk?"

"That's really sad." Lorelai replied, her voice beginning to show fear. It was becoming obvious to her know that Kirk was mentally unstable. "But, you don't have to hurt people, Kirk. I'm sure if you just talk to people they'll listen..."

"The hell they will!" Kirk roared. "I tried talking to the police. They didn't give a rat's ass about what I had to say. No one in this town cares about what happens to me or what I have to say!"

Rory was whimpering behind her mother's back. Lorelai stayed calm, hoping that someone would come along and that Kirk wouldn't do anything irrational. Kirk held his knife up straight. "I'm tired of being the village idiot."

"Kirk, please." Lorelai replied.

"But you know what, Lorelai. I guess killing the most popular man in town just wasn't enough. No one even found out it was me."

"You could tell them." Lorelai suggested, trying to hold back her tears. "Dean and Jess would really appreciate that."

"You think I care about Jess and Dean?" Kirk scoffed. "I don't. No... I need to do something else. Something bigger. Something that will catch even more attention and show everyone how stupid they are for putting two boys in jail. They think they have the real killers... they think everything is all safe in the kingdom of Stars Hollow." Kirk pointed his knife at Lorelai. She quickly backed away. "But if I murdered the queen and her darling little princess, I'm sure that would catch everyone's attention."


	20. Greater Is The Faith

Kirk lunged at Lorelai and Lorelai quickly moved out of the way, moving Rory with her.

"Stand still..." Kirk demanded.

"Why don't you stand still Kirk." a voice from behind him called.

Kirk slowly turned around. He smiled. "And here he is ladies and gentleman, the hero of the story, Luke Danes." Kirk applauded.

"Drop the knife." Luke replied.

"No, Luke. I don't wanna." Kirk smiled. "How's Jess, by the way? I heard he tried to escape, got shot in the back... that must of hurt."

"He'll be fine." Luke answered shortly. "You wanted your attention now you've got it. We'll tell everyone that you murdered Taylor. You don't have to worry about that."

"You're missing the point Mr. Backwards Baseball Cap. I'm not finished yet."

"No you're missing the point!" Luke yelled. "It's over. You're finished. Drop the knife."

Luke started to walk towards Kirk. Kirk began to panic. Frantically, he reached over and grabbed Rory. He placed the knife at her throat.

"Kirk! You bastard! Let her go!" Lorelai screamed as she grabbed Kirk's arm. Kirk tried to shake her off, but couldn't. Rory wiggled her way free of Kirk's clutches. Suddenly a struggle between Lorelai and Kirk broke out. Luke ran over quickly and pulled Lorelai aside. When he pulled her back, Kirk swung with his knife and cut Lorelai on the shoulder. Luke looked at Lorelai then quickly turned back to Kirk.

"You son of a bitch!" Luke punched Kirk with all his might knocking him down onto the ground. "Are you okay?" he asked grabbing hold of Lorelai.

"Mom!" Rory called as she fled to her mother. Lorelai hugged her daughter.

"I'll be fine." Lorelai replied over Rory's shoulder. "It's okay."

Luke stared down at Kirk who was laying coldly on the street. "I can't believe it was him this whole time."

"I'm so sorry." Rory sobbed.

"I know, sweetheart." Lorelai soothed. "I'm sorry too."

"I love you." Rory replied.

"I love you." Lorelai repeated. Suddenly blue and red lights flashed around them."Who called the cops?" Lorelai asked confused.

"Sookie" Luke confessed. "When we saw Kirk standing on the street she ran back and called."

"For some reason I'm not surprised to see you two here." Detective Cook replied as she walked over to them.

"Just doing our job." Luke replied teasingly.

Cook noticed the blood seeping through Lorelai's jacket. "Are you okay, Lorelai?" she asked concerned.

"Yeah." she replied. "It's just a little scrape."

Cook smiled. "Mm Hm. Looks like you'd better get some stitches." Her focus fell on Kirk who was being lifted from the ground by a couple of police officers. "My goodness that's a scrawny little man. Never would have expected him."

"That's what kept him so motivated." Lorelai remarked.

"Hey, Detective.." Luke started. "Does this mean that Jess and Dean can be set free now?"

Cook sighed. "Well, they'll stand trial again. This time with all the new information we have and if we get Kirk to confess to everything then that will help a lot."

"Stop using the beat around the bush explanation, are they going to be set free or not?" Luke pushed.

"Dean will more than likely be loosed within the next 72 hours." Cook paused. "Jess on the other hand will be facing another charge, due to his attempted escape. But we can work out something I'm sure." She smiled.

"What's going to happen to Kirk?" Lorelai asked.

"Looks like he just bought himself a one way ticket to the psych ward." Cook replied. "Come on, let's get you stitched up down at the hospital."

"I"ll take her." Luke offered.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Luke smiled. "She's my partner."

"Alright. I'll be in touch soon." Cook grinned and turned to leave.

"Come on, let's get you two warmed up." Luke guided them towards his truck which was parked a couple of streets over.

"I'm so glad you showed up." Lorelai began. "I really thought Kirk was going to ..."

"Hey, don't even say it." Luke interrupted.

"But.."

"I'm just sorry he cut you."

"It doesn't even hurt." Lorelai replied. "When I saw him grab Rory, I didn't care anymore. I wasn't going to let him hurt her."

"Yeah, I know. When you love someone you feel like you can do anything in order to protect them." Luke smiled.

He started the truck and drove off towards the hospital.

( a week later at the Gilmore house)

"Rory..." Lorelai called. "Come in here please."

Rory walked out of her room and into the kitchen. She was taken aback by the boy sitting at her kitchen table.

"Hey." he smiled.

"Hey." she returned.

"You want to go for a walk?"

"Yeah, I'll grab my coat."

Lorelai followed after Rory.

"I can't believe he's here." Rory replied when her mother stepped into her room.

Lorelai smiled. "He just showed up at the back door." Rory put on her jacket. "You owe me details when you get back."

"Deal." Rory smiled as she headed back into the kitchen. "You ready?"

He nodded his head yes, and they headed out the back door. They walked a few paces before they began their conversation.

"I'm really sorry about all of this." Rory apologized.

"It's not your fault. I'm just glad I'm out of prison. Man, who would have thought Kirk had it in him, huh?" he half laughed.

"That was the whole problem. No one thought Kirk had it in him." Rory replied. "You seem to be taking things well."

"Yeah, I mean why stress about it? It all worked out, right?"

"Right."

"I mean I'm a free man, and I'm walking beside the most beautiful girl in Stars Hollow, so how can I complain?"

"Well, there's the bullet hole in your back."

Jess smiled charmingly. "Yeah, but you fill every hole inside me, Rory." he leaned over and kissed her softly on her lips.


End file.
